Reboot
by deliriousLycan
Summary: After a string of odd murders start cropping up, the BAU team is called in to investigate the mysterious deaths of several youth who've been the victims of a recreated legend. Inexplicably, Reid is drawn to the mountain by a force that seems to echo in his very soul. Can the others save him before it's too late, or will it take the help of one of Reid's old friends to stop him?
1. Once Upon A Time

**_Hello, anyone who actually takes the time to read this! I'm Lycan, and welcome to my personal hell of plot bunnies and poor writing skills! I'm hoping you'll give it a chance at least though, and we'll see where it goes from there. Any advice you can give to me on how to make it feel less butchered or rushed would be great, as well._**

 ** _Now, obviously this is an AU. I had to divert a lot of the canon aspects of Criminal Minds to make this work, so forgive me if you don't like that. The idea struck me mostly when I realized that Reid had scruffy longish brown hair and was smart and kind and sensitive. It reminded me of Frisk, so... you'll see XD_**

 ** _Genre: Hurt/comfort/adventure_**

 ** _Summary: After a string of odd murders start cropping up, the BAU team is called in to investigate the mysterious deaths of several youth who've been the victims of a recreated legend. The Legend of Mount Ebott... Inexplicably, Reid is drawn to the mountain by a force that seems to echo in his very soul. Can the others save him before it's too late, or will it take the help of one of Reid's old friends to stop him?_**

* * *

 _Your eyes are wide, filled with fear as you look upon the form of what many would call Death, the Grim Reaper. You know him as a lifelong friend, though you've done nothing to deserve to call him as such. This was a dance you'd done many times before, and would certainly do countless times again and again. It was pure adrenaline, the desire for carnage and death that drove you to continue. Though as you looked upon the messenger of death, you realize that maybe in the end it is all for naught. Why have you been pushed to such a point? As wise words were once said by the soul in front of you, is it not your responsibility to use such a power as yours for good?_

 _You watch as the draconic head raises high above you, and then there is pain and darkness…_

* * *

Reid snapped awake, struggling to catch his breath as he kicked at the blankets covering his form. Sweat dripped down his face, and he reached a hand up to run his fingers through his shaggy hair. Looking around, it took him a minute to realize that he was in a hotel room.

"Okay, okay, calm down… you're not trapped in a cave, you're not underground, you're safe here…" he spoke quietly to himself, shaking his head as he went about his daily routine before heading out to meet up with everyone else. He hadn't had a nightmare like that since he was a kid, and he had to wonder briefly why he had even had such vivid nightmares to begin with. They were so real, it almost felt like… like _memories_ more than figments of his imagination.

Nodding his head to the others in greeting after he'd arrived, he listened intently to the case they were discussing. It was rather surreal, actually, just how brutal the case was, and yet… it also seemed somewhat nostalgic. He found himself hanging onto every word, far more than he would have normally.

"We've been called in because there's been a series of murders that almost seem to be centered on the local legend of Mount Ebott, seeing as that's where all of the bodies have been found thus far. Our unsub has been killing all of their victims so far in various ways, of which would seem nearly unconnected if not for the fact they're almost always found in the exact same place. So far, we've identified five victims. The first victim, Lisa Thompson, was burned to death. The second victim, Jackson Brinkley, was impaled on what the EM discovered was a knife carved out of a human femur bone. The third victim, Barbara Dahl, was stabbed to death with a spear, the fourth, Daniel Byrd, was strangled to death, and the fifth was executed via electrical shock. The MO is all over the place, with the only thing connecting them being the victims' ages and the dump site. All of the victims were between the ages of seven and seventeen, and were all located just south of a rather large cave mouth leading into the mountain. The bodies were posed to make it seem as if they'd tripped and fallen," Hotch explained, and Reid felt a wave of sympathy for the victims overwhelm him.

"Given that the ages are between 7 and 17, not over or under, there could possibly be some religious significance to the attacks. As well as that, there's a possibility that the unsub will only be attacking twice more, though it's just speculation," he spoke up, voice soft spoken.

Morgan nodded, giving his own thoughts. "If the victims have all been in their youth so far, and if there _are_ religious undertones, it could be an elderly person taking out frustrations on the disrespect they feel they're getting."

They all nodded, but Reid felt strange. His heart was beating faster than it should have been, and he couldn't help but feel as if it was all wrong. There was something pulling him to that mountain, pulling him there with a grip of steel that refused to relent.

It smelled like adrenaline and dust in the room, and he suddenly felt claustrophobic.

Taking deep breaths to slow his heartrate down a bit, he glanced at his teammates faces to make sure they hadn't noticed his brief moment of panic.

 _What was that? I don't usually have a freakout session like that!_ He thought to himself idly, and then rerouted his focus onto the others as they were dismissed to their part of the case. He and Morgan were to head to the dump site, and so he was pulled along to the mountain.

As they were heading there, Morgan snapped his fingers in front of Reid's face.

"Hey, kid, what's going on in that head of yours? You've been out of it all day; are you okay?" he asked in concern, and Reid nodded.

 _On days like these…_

"I'm not a kid," was all he said though, and Derek frowned at his younger friend.

"Sure you're not… but still, are you _sure_ you're okay? You don't seem like it," he said, and Reid frowned back.

"I'm fine, okay? I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night; I had a bad dream, that's all," he said, and Morgan nodded.

"Oh… want to talk about it? What was it about?" he asked, and Reid sighed.

"I don't really know, it was all so confusing and it's blurry now. I know it felt real though, while I was dreaming… almost as if it was some sort of repressed memory but that wouldn't make sense because I was fighting a skeleton," he said, and the dark skinned agent snorted.

"Yeah, I'd say that's a bit strange. You must have quite a few _skeletons_ in your closet to dream of something like that though," he joked, and to his surprise Reid let out a barking string of laughter.

"Oh my God, did you seriously just say that? You've got tibia kidding me!" he grinned, and Morgan's eyes widened.

"Whoa, calm down there kid! A guy like me needs his dignity to stay intact," he said, smiling. Reid nodded, smirking smugly.

Morgan, however amused he was, had been caught off guard. Typically, he only said puns on a rare occasion and when he did Reid would simply give him the blankest stare he could possibly muster. For once though, he'd actually laughed…

There was something seriously wrong with this picture, and he was going to get to the bottom of it. A pun loving, nightmare-plagued Reid was not the same Reid he knew, and thus he knew he would have to do some investigating of his own for his younger friend.

They pulled up to the site where the bodies had been dropped, and they climbed out of the SUV they'd ridden over in. The area was taped of with yellow police tape, and Reid frowned deeply at it.

It wasn't right, it didn't fit. It wasn't supposed to be there, it was all wrong…

"Why not just dump the bodies into the cave mouth?" Morgan asked, standing next to the gaping hole in the mouth of the cave. Reid's eyes widened, and he walked over to the edge, looking in. It was incredibly deep, and there was a patch of gold at the very bottom of the fall.

 _You wake up in a bed of golden flowers…_

"I wonder what it'd be like to fall down that…" he mumbled, but Derek heard it and looked at him startled.

"It'd be a terrifying experience and you'd die upon impact. You already know that," he said, and Reid frowned.

"I know that, but if you would theoretically live I wonder what it would be like is what I mean," Reid explained, and he nodded briskly.

"Well, let's not stand here by the edge and find out, right?" he said, and Spencer nodded as he stepped away from the hole's edge.

"Also, to answer your question earlier, the bodies weren't dumped in the cave mouth because whoever did this _wanted_ the bodies to be found. They wanted to be known for what they did, for some sick reason. No one would ever know where they were if they'd dumped the bodies into the cave. Not to mention, many people are scared of the legend on this mountain. They wouldn't want to make it angry somehow," he said, and Derek paused for a moment.

"Reid, what exactly _is_ the legend around this mountain?" he asked, and the genius smiled wryly.

"Anyone who climbs the mountain will never return. The mountain is a soul stealer, and it kills those who would interrupt its sacred whatever it has. Of course, that's impossible but the fear still exists. And to be honest, people who _have_ come up here haven't been seen again, and most of the people who wandered this way were younger… thus the reason we believe the unsub is trying to recreate the legend in their own sick way," his eyes were distant, as if remembering something. Something that didn't add up or was wrong, and Derek nodded to the explanation even as he frowned.

"That would make sense, I guess. It's just kind of sad that it had to happen like this. I wish for once, we could get a break from all the super psycho killers and maybe just deal with a semi normal case."

"Morgan, we wouldn't be here if it was a normal case"

"Exactly," Morgan smiled wryly, and Reid just shook his head in amusement. Looking around for any sign of evidence or something specific that the police might have missed, or perhaps maybe get into the killer's head, they walked around the crime scene with dazed looks in their eyes.

 _You know who's doing this..._ Reid's thoughts were feeding him from a source he had no idea where it came from, and he shivered. Looking back over at the mouth of the cave, he could swear that there were vines around it that hadn't been there before. He was unsettled, to say the least, and after a while Derek called for him.

"We don't know anything about this guy except for the legend. There's no sign of anything to indicate who might have been here, or where and when. Let's head back and see if the others had any luck finding anything.

As they were walking away, Reid swore he could nearly hear manic laughter, and the sound of a child crying… Stopping for a moment, he listened but heard it no more beyond that. The mountain was silent, and he wasn't quite sure why that made him as unsettled as it did.


	2. Danger Mystery

The rain trailed down the glass windowpanes of the small café, and thunder rolled away in the distance. Reid held the warm mug of coffee in his hands, close to his face as he took in the comforting smell as the steam wafted towards his nose. Looking out of the window, he listened loosely as Morgan told a story to the team about a childhood event. His eyes were fixed on one thing only; the looming and ominous form of Mount Ebott. It was a terrifying, brutal, and dark mountain, towering over all the other mountains of the area. He felt the urge to run, to go to it, become almost overpowering. Yawning widely, he was snapped out his musing as Hotch and Morgan fixed a concerned look on him. Actually, now that he glanced around, they were _all_ looking at him in concern. He smiled sheepishly, then sipped his now cooling coffee.

"You're sure you're alright, Reid?" Morgan asked, and he nodded.

"Yeah, of course. I'm just thinking…" he shrugged, and then turned his full attention onto their conversation. They gradually eased back into conversation, but there was a small sound just at the back of his consciousness, urging him to follow what he felt. He paled, suddenly developing a killer headache. Asking to be excused, he shuffled away to the bathroom. Hunched over the sink, he wiped the sudden sheen of sweat off his brow and looked up in the mirror. Falling backwards, he could nearly swear he was on some kind of hallucinogen, because his reflection had actually _flickered._ Standing up, hands still shaking, he locked eyes with his reflection this time. It was simply himself looking back from the mirror, but for a split second ago he'd seen something… _demonic._ It was him, but his eyes were a vivid crimson and a murderous grin had claimed his now frightened frown. The transformation into that… childish fiend he'd seen in the mirror was terrifying, and he feared he may actually be developing signs of… of his mother's illness.

It was a fear he hadn't had since his nightmares at a young age, when he would _scream_ throughout the night because the child, the same child he'd just seen, was taking hold of his soul and ripping it from him.

 _This isn't yours anymore, but I'll give you a break… Go along! Make all of your friends happy,_ the voice would purr to him, and he had to swallow down bile as he felt a cold feeling of pervading darkness seeping into his heart. Hearing a knock on the door, he shook his head frantically as he stepped out of the door, swaying on his feet. Morgan was there, and after frowning at him for a moment, decided that it was time to take his young friend back to the hotel where he was staying.

"C'mon Reid, let's get you back to the hotel," he said, guiding his friend along through the café and out of the door, letting the others know that he was taking Reid back to the hotel. Settling into the SUV outside, he pulled away and began driving towards the hotel. Reid didn't honestly want to go, but he was still in a state of shock so he simply went with it.

"Reid, what's going on?" Morgan asked, and Reid just shrugged.

"I…I don't know. I'm just tired, that's all…" he said, and Derek frowned.

"You know you can tell me anything, right? I think I've already said that before," he said, and Reid smiled wryly.

"Yeah, I know, I just- I don't know _what_ to tell you, I've just been having those nightmares I told you about and they're starting to become daymares. I need sleep, and lots of it. I don't know why I've been having such a hard time sleeping," he explained, and Derek just pulled over at a convenience store.

"Here, I'm going to go pick up some sleeping pills for you. Take one tonight, alright?" he said, and Reid nodded. It wasn't like he had much of a choice, after all. Drifting off after a few moments, he snapped back awake to have Morgan shaking his shoulder.

"C'mon man, we're here. I'll be down the hall if you need anything, okay?" he said, the two of them walking in and to their rooms. Entering his own, Reid flopped face down onto the bed and sighed, eyes slipping closed in a content manner…

 _Reid woke back up,_ but how he hated his name. As well as that, he hated his title. They had always been much preferred, giving them freedom. Standing up from the hotel bed, they went into the small kitchen area and shuffled around, finding at last what they desired.

"Here they are!" they grinned, and walking into the bathroom they ran their fingers through their long brown hair. It had long since grown out of the familiar bangs they both had worn, but this was unimportant. Grinning, Reid's face grew sinister and their hazel eyes took on a maddened, crimson glint as they trailed the blade between their fingers. It was time, and with that they turned and left the bathroom, and ultimately the hotel. They could feel the restless struggles of resistance deep within their mind, but they were pushed aside. This was their time to be free, and they would take the opportunity in any form it took. Going into the elevator, it descended and let them onto the ground floor. There were two more, and then… they would finally be able to be complete once more. They had to be careful now though, for the others were trying to find them without even realizing it was them they were hunting. Of course, they would easily win in a fight against them, but they weren't willing to risk their element of surprise quite yet.

It was rather simple, really, what they were doing. The fact that their hands were now red with blood did not bother them, in fact it was actually rather pleasant. Humorous, and dare they say it, _fun._ Far more exciting than mere dust, which only aided in causing their breathing to worsen. The cleaning up was the worst part, to be honest, though they found time even for that. Unfortunately, though, they hadn't counted on someone to see them, and they weren't quite strong enough to go back yet, so they were forced to run. It was a talent they had perfected, but it was undignified and they did not enjoy it in the slightest. And it was with that they took their prize to the mountain, where their story truly began. Dropping the form onto the ground, they walked to the edge of the entrance.

"Soon, my dears, and I will return to you!" they grinned, and he turned around and began the trek back to the hotel. His eyes were now nearly all crimson, and a faint blush adorned his cheeks. Reid stepped back into his room, covered in blood. Stepping into the shower, he was unaware that Morgan had been on the way to the lobby to get a snack and he heard the shower turning on. It was ridiculously early, after all, so he found himself marginally concerned. Probably another nightmare…

Finishing in the shower, Reid slammed down on the bed with a satisfied sigh, and then allowed the struggle that had been fighting within his mind all evening to take hold of his mind.

It was morning when he awoke, with no memory but that of a horrid, melting beast that lumbered towards him.


	3. Fallen Down

Walking into the station the next morning, he was greeted with several strange looks and a few nearly frightened glances. He found it confusing, and his tired mind could only wonder what they were thinking and why _he_ of all people was bringing about such a strange effect. It was far more intense than what the rest of the team had deemed the "Reid Effect," which usually only affected dogs and children. Walking to where he saw the rest of the team, JJ and Prentiss did a doubletake when they saw him.  
"Reid? Why are you wearing those?" JJ asked, and he just blinked.  
"Wearing…what?" he said, looking down at his outfit. His outfit was the type that he normally wore, so that couldn't be it…

"The red contacts, dude you look creepy as hell!" Morgan said, face twisted in confusion in a mirror of Reid's own expression.

"I…I'm not wearing contacts…" he said, and then walked over to a computer monitor and he paled. Looking back at him from the reflection was a pair of crimson eyes, glowing with hatred and… a sort of voided emptiness. His reflection looking back at him was a painful reminder of something he was unaware was an astounding truth. It was as if he didn't have a soul. His cheeks were also stained with a deep pink blush, and it was vivid against his pale complexion.

 _No, no, no, this is just another nightmare there's no way none of that was ever real it's impossible!_ He thought to himself, but a giggle echoed in the depths of his mind.

The others watched in concern as their young friend seemed to crumble in front of them. They were starting to become afraid that he was developing the symptoms of his mother's illness, but still… there was something eerily real about the blood red glare that he gave them. His face expressed his desire for comfort and a sense of reality as he turned to face them, but his eyes told an entirely different story.

"Reid…" Hotch said, stepping closer to him when someone suddenly shrieked as they came in the station.

"That's him! That's the man I saw last night!" a teenage girl shouted, pointing at Reid. He faintly recognized her, but he wasn't sure why. They locked eyes, and her eyes widened in terror. Reid wanted to reach out to comfort her, but Rossi grabbed his arm and held him back with his own eyes wide but narrowed with suspicion.

"Reid, what has gotten into you?" he asked, because what the others were seeing and what Reid was actually doing was two different things. Reid _thought_ he was being comforting and trying to give a calming aura, while his face had twisted into a psychopathic and murderous grin and his eyes were nearly _glowing_ with a sense of bloodlust. All of his muscles tensed underneath Rossi's grip, and it could almost seem as if he had gotten stronger within a single instant.

 _*1 left,_ he thought to himself, eyes locked in a deadly stare with hers. Hotch helped Rossi pull Reid into another room while Prentiss and Morgan listened to the girl tell a horrific story about how she'd seen Reid standing over her 17 year old brother and goring him with a garden claw. He'd had a serrated kitchen knife in his belt loop apparently, and when he'd caught sight of her coming in he'd apparently grabbed the boy's body and _jumped_ out of a second story window with no hesitation, running towards Mount Ebott. She'd watched him until he disappeared, and called 911. They hadn't gotten there in time though, so now there was another body and the BAU's youngest was a suspect for murder. Although it was difficult to imagine their young friend murdering anyone, all they had to do was think of the soulless stare and the twisted grin he'd worn when staring the girl down. The most disturbing thing she said though, was describing his eyes. Something that they had been focused on themselves all morning.

"When he looked over at me, I saw his eyes… they…they were glowing with the flames of hell, I swear, they were the only things I could see clearly in the dim outline of his figure. That's why I knew it was _him_ when I came in," she said, and they nodded slowly. Letting her be to go make a proper statement, they left to go stand with Reid along with the others. The knowledge that Reid might very well be a killer after stopping so many, though, was terrifying and they were filled with a sudden apprehension. A feeling that they hadn't had in a long, long time.

 _Trust no one,_ echoed in their minds, and they were on edge as they looked into Reid's gaze. They had to break free from his stare, because his face was not matching his voice at _all._ He had the most ominously dark look on his face, with the sense of there not being an expression there. The expression he wore was completely blank, and almost transcendental in the darkness found there.

"Please, I don't understand! You don't honestly think I'd hurt someone do you?" he pleaded, his voice full of heartbroken betrayal but his expression didn't waver and that was the terrifying part. It was as if they were looking at another creature entirely, someone who had stolen their poor Reid's body for their own gain.

"I need to go to the Mountain… please, let me prove I didn't do anything!" he said, and that's when Hotch sighed.

"Reid, you're not helping yourself… we haven't even accused you of anything, which makes your pleading sound even _more_ suspicious," he sighed, though his own expression was stern he was unnerved as well by the complete wrongness of the situation.

Reid went silent as he listened closely to what Derek was whispering to Hotch, and Hotch's eyes widened a minuscule fraction before hardening into the set look of being stern once again.

"Reid, that girl accused you of being found in her home last night, where the latest victim was murdered. She said that _you_ did it, and the description of you fits. You weren't, were you?" he asked, and Reid opened his mouth on that blank expression to say that he wasn't, but the words froze on his tongue.

"I…I… I don't know… _I don't know,"_ his expression finally shifted looking down at the table as he ran his hands through his hair.

"I remember waking up this morning from another nightmare, and passing out last night when Morgan got me back to the hotel. Other than that, I don't remember anything," he said, and Morgan's face grew confused.

"I heard you in the shower around two in the morning last night, you don't remember that?" he asked, and Reid grew confused.

"No, I was still in bed around that time. I think, at least. I don't remember taking a shower last night," he said, and then looked down at his hands. He began wiping them on his shirt, huffing.

"Why is there so much dust in here? It's stuck to my hands!" he complained, and JJ frowned as she ran her hands along the table and held it up to him.

"Reid, there's no dust in here… not much, at least," she said, and he looked up at her, eyes looking into her soul.

"Please, just take me to the mountain! _Please!"_ he was begging them, and they all shared a look.

"Why do you want to go to the mountain so badly?" Rossi asked, and Reid looked at him.

"I have friends there, friends who can help us," he said, and Hotch narrowed his eyes.

"Reid, no one lives there. Everyone is afraid of that mountain, there's no way you have friends there," he said, but Reid insisted.

"I don't know why or how I know, but I _have_ to go to that mountain! Please, just take me there!" he shouted, and they relented.

"Okay, okay, we'll go..." Hotch said, not wanting to push his young charge further over the edge than he already was. And so, they found themselves all en route to Mount Ebott. Once there, Reid stepped out and walked to the edge of the entrance that he'd been curious about.

"Reid, what are you doing? How does this help anything?" Morgan asked, suddenly concerned. Reid only gestured them closer, pointing down into the cavern.

"You see those flowers?" he asked, and Morgan nodded. Hotch and the others walked around the edge of it, all peering in. They didn't understand the significance of it at all, and looked confusedly at their now crimson eyed friend. He sighed, knowing they wouldn't understand until they _saw._

"Put your weapons on the ground. We don't need them," he said, placing his own on the ground before spreading his arms and leaping into the cave. Emily and JJ screamed as he fell, trying to lunge forward to catch him. Eventually, it ended with all of them falling into the cave and silently saying their last prayers as the ground got closer and closer. Reid hit first, followed shortly by the girls and then Morgan, Hotch, and Rossi.

They all woke up on a bed of golden flowers.


End file.
